After getting my new 600mm lens, I needed to find some good stuff to shoot. I knew we had some eagles within 100 miles or so of my house during the winter, but I had never gone to take pictures of them. I did a lot of research and found some good resources (ebird.com) and finally decided to take a ride one morning while the weather and my work schedule were cooperating.

My first stop was to a blind that had some eagles around it. The only problem was I was staring straight into the light of the rising sun, and the eagles were pretty far away, which only allowed me to get shots like this…

Facebook

Twitter

Not exactly what I had in mind.

Since the blind was facing the rising sun, I decided to look out the back of the blind and found a couple of eagles perched in the trees enjoying the warm glow of the morning sun. They were still far away, so I kept my 2x extender on, giving me a 1200mm f/8 lens. Shooting them, I was able to get a couple of decent in-flight shots…

Facebook

Twitter

Facebook

Twitter

The sun was getting higher and the light was getting harsher, so I decided I would pack it up and head home. There was one other area that I wanted to check out on my way home. I was driving along and I saw a bunch of cars on the side of the road mostly facing the wrong direction, it was other photographers and bird watchers admiring several other eagles. I joined them and shooting out my window was able to get some more shots, with this one being my favorite…